


you smiled because you knew

by leighbot



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, First Dates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-06-03
Packaged: 2018-04-01 23:45:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4039195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leighbot/pseuds/leighbot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Niall grins. “Let’s go out sometime.”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Louis perks up a bit, holding out his hand and demanding Niall’s mobile. “On one condition,” he says as he types in his contact information. “We’re going to redo your bad dates and make them good ones.”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Niall laughs, thinking he’s kidding at first. “Why can’t we just go to dinner like regular lads?”</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Louis rolls his eyes and opens the door. “Being regular is boring, Neil. Good night.”</i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Or, the one where Louis and Niall reenact their previous bad dating history and maybe fall in 'like' along the way. (Spoiler alert: not so much 'maybe')</p>
            </blockquote>





	you smiled because you knew

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Feathercrown](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feathercrown/gifts).



> In theory, this is based on one of the prompts I received. It just... diverged a bit? As they often do. I hope you enjoy, this was so fun to write!
> 
> Warnings for ridiculous fluff and that's pretty much it. Some heated snogging but nothing further. Louis' not that kind of lad, okay? (:
> 
> I had an amazing, wonderful person offer to beta this for me at the very, very last moment and I am forever thankful to her. Thanks, as always, to my wonderful britpicker as well. Couldn't do it without either of them. All remaining mistakes are mine.
> 
> Title from 'when I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew' which is often incorrectly attributed to Shakespeare but is actually from a libretto by Arrigo Boito that was _based on_ a Shakespeare work. So, fanfiction in a sense, 1893 style.

The promise of a nice bum and great sense of humor in one package deal is the only thing that’s convinced Niall to go on a blind date. Honestly, he isn’t even sure why Eoghan was adamant about it. Sure, Niall’s been having a bit of a dry spell but it isn’t like it’s a big deal. It’s the first year after uni, everyone’s settling into their “adult” jobs and the LIC is having a rougher time getting together, now that drinking to excess is somewhat frowned upon.

Niall hasn’t been out with anyone new in a few months but he didn’t think it was bad enough that oblivious Eoghan had to get involved. Knowing how long it had taken the lad to realize his roommate had moved out his final year at uni- three weeks, it had taken three weeks- Niall agrees to end his drought and lets Eoghan get him a date.

So he shows up to the little hole-in-the-wall restaurant Eoghan had told him about, fifteen minutes before his date’s supposed to arrive. He had been told to look out for a great bum, long brown hair and a red rose in her hand, so he’s a bit startled when a boy with piercing blue eyes and swoopy fringe approaches him, a rose tucked into his waistband.

“Hi, I think we’re both a bit early for the reservations but can I buy you a drink while we wait?” the lad asks him.

Niall’s a bit surprised Eoghan set him up with a lad- he was pretty sure he’d used the word ‘she’ on more than one occasion- but the boy in front of him is quite pretty and a brief glance reveals a pretty great arse, in all honesty, so he thinks he must have just misunderstood. Niall mentally shrugs to himself and smiles wide.

“They got anything good on draft here?” he asks as they make their way to the bar.

“An Irishman? I was told you were a Brummie,” the boy says, eyebrows high and smile strange.

“He lied to you, then.”

A confused look crosses the boy’s face but he turns to the bartender to order them a couple lagers. Niall slides up next to him at the bar, their hips just slightly brushing, and the boy looks back at him, smile on his face.

“I’m Louis, by the way,” he says, and Niall takes advantage of how close they are to really study Louis’ face. He’s about Niall’s age with just a hint of bags under his eyes, blue like Niall’s but completely mesmerizing in a way that makes Niall finally understand why his mum had always brushed his fringe from his face as she’d tell him, ‘don’t hide those eyes away.’

“‘M Niall,” he says, holding out his hand after what’s probably slightly too long of a pause judging from the way Louis is smiling at him.

Louis takes his hand but his confused look finally disappears only to be replaced with a deep flush and an awkward laugh. “I’m sorry, mate. I don’t think we’re each other’s dates after all,” he says as he fiddles with his fringe.

The bartender slides their pints to them just then and Louis turns to him and pays with a grin. When he looks back at Niall, his flush is less intense but he’s still got on a crooked smile, clearly embarrassed. “My date’s name is Steven, sorry for the mix-up. I think it was the rose,” he says, pointing out the red rose in Niall’s back pocket.

Niall laughs, everything clicking into place for him. “I _knew_ Eoghan had said I was looking for a girl.”

“You thought I could be confused with a bird?” Louis teases, laughing a bit as well and taking a sip of his pint.

“To be fair, I was mainly told to look for a nice bum.”

Louis shrugs and smiles into his pint as if he’s heard it before. Niall feels a sudden urge to capture Louis’ interest again, missing the way he’d looked pleased when he thought Niall was his date.

“So-” he starts, not sure what he’s going to actually say, when a voice behind him calls his name.

Turning on his heel, he sees a fit girl standing in front of him, long brown hair and pretty smile.

“I thought that was you,” she says. “Eoghan’s picture of you was pretty shit, to be honest.”

Niall feels Louis shift a bit next to him but doesn’t dare look over.

“At least you got a picture,” he says, trying to turn a joke. “I just tried to awkwardly chat up someone else’s blind date.”

He motions with his thumb to Louis, who rolls his eyes when Niall looks over at him.

The girl smiles but it’s a bit forced all the same, adjusting the strap of her purse over her shoulder and shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Niall can see the rose tucked into her bag and he starts forward to her. He can’t resist turning to Louis one more time.

“Good luck with your Steven lad,” he says and Louis winks back at him.

“I was told he’s quite fit, I’m sure I’ll be happy.”

Niall laughs- everything Louis says is _funny_ to him, it’s not even something he can control- and he turns back around.

“I’m Niall,” he says, trying to forget about the way Louis swipes his fringe across his forehead like it’s a nervous habit, the way he’d first done it after Niall had told him his name and he’d realized they weren’t each other’s dates after all.

“I’m Josie,” she says, holding out her hand.

They shake and smile at each other, and- when he leads her back to the hostess stand to see if their reserved table is available- he means to check if Eoghan’s statement about her arse was true, but he finds himself looking back at Louis instead and frowning a bit when a burly lad comes over to him, too stocky next to Louis’ slight frame.

He turns back to the front when Louis looks over, quickly falling in step with Josie again as a waitress seats them.

 

 

The date is awkward.

Niall spends the first few minutes trying to get to know Josie, asking about her family and what she’s still in school studying. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he sees a familiar figure pass and his attention is captured all over again.

Louis’ date, Steven, has his hand on the small of Louis’ back and is almost directing him as the follow behind the waitress. There’s something about the touch that makes Niall uncomfortable.

He keeps looking over at them while they wait for their food, tuning out what Josie’s saying as he watches Steven gesticulate broadly, clearly agitated about something. Louis looks frustrated and annoyed, but he doesn’t move from the table and Niall doesn’t understand why.

His attention is brought back to the table when Josie abruptly stands. He sees the exasperated look on her face and feels awful.

“I’m sorry, I know. Let’s go somewhere else,” he offers, reaching for her hand.

She smiles at him, but it’s a bit forced. “Nah, it’s okay. I’m just going to go, good luck with that lad over there.”

Niall feels like utter rubbish, he’s never treated a date so poorly before, basically ignoring her completely. She pulls out some cash from her pocket and sets it on the table despite his protests before she walks away with a brief wave.

The waiter comes by when she leaves, hovering awkwardly for a moment.

“I’m alright,” Niall says, letting the water grab the money from the table and settle the bill. He leaves a bit extra as tip, standing and gearing himself up to leave when Steven stands from his table and makes his way to the loos.

Despite the warning bell in his head telling him to mind his own business, Niall goes to Louis’ table.

“Hey,” he says, feeling awkward.

Louis smiles wide when he sees him, sitting up in his chair.

“Hi,” he responds, leaning a bit to look past him. “Where’d your girl go?”

“She left; I wasn’t being a very good date tonight.”

Louis preens a bit at that and Niall smirks, realizing Louis had been aware of the attention the whole time.

“It’s like that, then?” he asks, slipping into the seat next to Louis.

“Oh, get over yourself,” Louis laughs.

“Why are you still here anyway, he seems like a real tool.”

Louis groans, frustrated as he sinks further in his seat.

“He’s so bloody _boring_ , and has zero humor. He practically yelled at me 'cause he’d seen us together at the bar and didn’t think the misunderstanding was funny at all.”

“ _Leave_ ,” Niall laughs, shoving Louis’ knee a bit under the table.

“Oi, hands off,” Louis laughs back, kicking out a bit and hitting the side of Niall’s shoe. “I asked my mate for an SOS lift home cause me car’s a piece and it’s in the shop overnight but he’s at work so it’s gonna be another hour.”

“I’ll take you,” Niall offers before he’s really aware of what he’s saying.

Louis’ eyes light up. “Honest, man? I’m not terribly far.”

Niall shrugs. “Yeah, come on. Let’s go before the creep gets back.”

Louis stands with him and then looks down at their half-eaten meal, face dejected. “Those prawns were really good,” he explains, smiling when Niall laughs and tugs at the sleeve of his shirt. He pulls out a bit of money and sets it down on the table before letting himself be lead away by Niall.

He stops his waitress on the way out. “Can you tell him I got awfully sick and had to go?” he asks, flushing a bit when she looks over at Niall and nods with a wink.

Niall bites down on his laughter, grabbing Louis’ hand and pulling him out before he can change his mind and go back.

“Ugh, I just feel so bad about it,” Louis says as he hops up into Niall’s truck.

“You paid for the meal and gave an excuse, he’s probably going to believe it and ask your mutual friend for your number.”

Louis groans again at that. “I’ll make sure Zayn knows to tell him he’s turned me straight or sommat, I’m not interested in sitting through that again.”

“Tough luck, mate.”

“Not even close to the worst date I’ve been on,” Louis mutters, “that’s the _real_ shame. There’s actually worse people out there than that.”

“What’s the worst then?” Niall asks as Louis directs him down the road they’re on and tells him to take a left at the light.

“There was one time Zayn set me up with a friend of a friend and I get to the restaurant, he looks me up and down and says, ‘he said you’d be hot’.”

“He didn’t!” Niall says, laughing when Louis smiles. He turns as instructed and looks over at Louis. Who wouldn’t think Louis is really fit?

“He did! And then he asked me if I wanted to come home with him after.”

Niall desperately wants to know if he did. Instead of asking, he offers a story of his own. “One time, this lad I’d met at a festival asked me out for brekkie the next morning. We met up near his tent and he told me to put on a blindfold because he wanted to “surprise” me.”

Louis laughs so hard he snorts. “Tell me you ran from that, mate.”

“Never so fast in my life,” Niall agrees.

“Okay, I can top that,” Louis says. “The forecast called for rain, right? A really bad summer storm, you know, that knocks out power and downs telephone lines. This guy I’d been seeing a couple weeks wanted to go putt-putt golfing and I said we could but we had to leave when it started raining, right?”

“You didn’t go, did you?”

“Mate, he wouldn’t _leave_ when the rain came, he just kept playing and it’s pouring and lighting hits like, really close, and all the shit around us is metal so I went to my car and sat there soaked until he finished his fucking game.”

“Mental. Who putt-putts, anyway?”

Louis rolls his eyes, turning in the seat so he can bring a knee underneath him and look at Niall. “Don’t tell me you’re a golf snob.”

Niall shrugs.

“No!” Louis wails playfully. “You’re too fun to like golf.”

“Me da taught me.”

Louis rests his head against the back of the seat, looking at Niall. He starts getting restless, feeling a bit claustrophobic from the attention and also strangely keyed up by it. He thinks about his previous dating experience.

“I once had a girl invite me on a date with her other boyfriend,” he offers.

“Did they take you home?” Louis asks with a smirk. His voice is lower and his eyes hooded as he rakes his gaze down Niall’s legs.

“I was so startled I turned around and left. Never saw her again. Ran into her boyfriend at Asda one day, awkward as all get out.”

Louis yawns a bit, bringing the back of his hand to his mouth. He thinks a minute and looks out the windshield, directing Niall when to turn. “I had a boy ask me to be his date for a wedding. I’d known him a total of two hours.”

“Irresistible, eh?”

“That’s it,” Louis agrees, practically nodding off.

“Hey, wake up. I don’t know where you live,” Niall laughs, reaching out and poking Louis in the thigh.

“I’m awake,” he says, grabbing Niall’s hand and linking their fingers for a second before letting go.

He softly directs the last couple turns until Niall’s pulling up in front of his flat. He parks the truck and lets it idle, looking over at Louis.

“I had more fun driving home with you for fifteen minutes than I did for the entirety of my exposure to Steven,” Louis sighs.

Niall grins. “Let’s go out sometime.”

Louis perks up a bit, holding out his hand and demanding Niall’s mobile. “On one condition,” he says as he types in his contact information. “We’re going to redo your bad dates and make them good ones.”

Niall laughs, thinking he’s kidding at first. “Why can’t we just go to dinner like regular lads?”

Louis rolls his eyes and opens the door. “Being regular is _boring_ , Neil. Good night.”

Niall laughs as he leaves, keeping an eye on him until he’s in his building before reversing and pulling away.

 

 

He calls Louis the next afternoon. There’s a commotion on the line when he picks up and Niall finds himself already smiling.

“‘Lo?”

The voice isn’t as high as Louis’ and Niall pulls the phone away from his ear, smiling slipping from his face as he double checks that he called the right person.

“Hello?” the person says again, sounding confused.

“Erm, hi,” Niall says before he can hang up. “I’m looking for Louis.”

“Hang on,” the lad says. Niall figures he must pull the phone away because his shout of ‘Tommo!’ is muffled.

There’s a rustling over the line as the phone is handed off, and Louis is the next thing he hears.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” Niall says, the word coming out a bit like a sigh. “It’s um, Niall. From last night.”

He swears he can hear Louis’ smirk when he says, “I’m sorry, I don’t remember any Nialls from last night. I remember a lovely lad named Steven and then a little Irish fella named Neil that stole me away from my date.”

Niall laughs. “That’d be me, then. The little Irish fella. Rescued you from a horrible blind date. Drove you home and charmed your number off you. Dead sexy.”

“Had me up until the last bit there, mate. Pretty sure the guy who drove me home was more ‘cute’ than ‘sexy’.”

“ _Oi, stop flirting already or I’ll tell him what you tol’ me_ ,” Niall hears in the background, Louis laughing and shushing the other person.

“Don’t listen to Zayn,” he says in a conspiratorial whisper. “He’s a bit daft, spends too much time inhaling paint fumes. It’s a tragedy, really.”

Niall hears him moving around and then there’s the slight sound of wind rushing through the phone. He assumes Louis has stepped outside. “Maybe that’s why he set you up with a dud. Can’t be held responsible for his actions anymore. Shame.”

Louis laughs and Niall can hear where he’s talking around a cigarette, his words mumbled as Niall hears the sound of a lighter flicking.

“So, Niall the Irish fella, you didn’t even wait a whole day to call. I must have made an impression.”

“More like I wanna rid meself of those bad dating memories. I’m curious to see how you’re gonna accomplish it when you’ve got worse stories than me.”

“Yeah, all right. We’ll just have to see then. So, give it to me. What’s your worst date?”

“You sure you want to do this?” Niall teases, dragging the conversation out. “You sure you’re up to the challenge?”

“Hit me with your best shot, as one might say.”

“One guy- when I was seventeen- took me on a picnic.”

“That’s the _worst_?” Louis asks, sounding a bit disappointed.

Niall grins and shakes his head, though Louis can’t see him. “The worst is _where_ he took me. After we had eaten in a pretty little meadow, he told me we had just eaten in a graveyard and he wanted to search through it for our last names.”

The laugh that comes down the line seems startled, like Louis hadn’t expected that. To be fair, Niall hadn’t either at the time.

“You’re taking the piss, I don’t believe you,” Louis says, giggling.

“I swear on me life, mate. It was the weirdest thing ever.”

“Did you find any with your last name?”

“Nah, it’s not too common. Thankfully. Don’t need to know I’d just eaten on an ancestor.”

“That was me subtly asking for your last name so Zayn and I can stalk your social media for a bit and make sure you’re not a nutter.”

Niall laughs- always, always laughs for Louis- and says, “It’s Horan. I’ve got a Facebook and Twitter but not much else out there.”

“We’ll find your secret Miley Cyrus fanpage, don’t try to hide it.”

“Guilty.”

Louis grunts in acknowledgment before he sighs against the phone, blowing out smoke. “That’s a tough date to fix, though,” he admits after a moment.

“Not up to the challenge?” Niall taunts, though he feels a bit disappointed. He’d thought it’d be a bit of a laugh and an excuse to talk to Louis again but he can’t help but feel like he blew his shot by picking such a weird one.

He should have gone with the time a blind date asked him back to his place after drinks, before their apps had been served. That at least would have probably gotten a smile out of him. And maybe even a date.

“Oh, I’m up for it,” Louis says after a pause, sounding much more confidant. “I’m definitely going to do it better but I think a graveyard will be hard to remove the memory of from your psyche. I’ve got a plan. Can you be ready in an hour?”

It’s Niall’s turn to be surprised. “An hour?” he squeaks out.

Louis laughs again. “Yeah, text me your address and I’ll be by in an hour.”

“Is that enough time to stalk me _and_ plan a memory-erasing date?” Niall asks.

“You underestimate me, Horan. Zayn’ll do the background search and I’ll organize the date while I’m getting pretty.”

Niall laughs, wanting to say something desperately stupid about Louis always being pretty but he feels a bit out of his element here. He’s pulled lads just as easily as birds in the past but he doesn’t think he’s ever met someone with such a sharp sense of humor before.

“I’ll see you in a bit,” he finally says, probably sounding daft.

“Ta for now, Irish.”

He hangs up and finds himself feeling a bit nervous as he gets in the shower. Something about Louis is just different, unlike most people Niall knows, and he thinks he’d quite like to be friends with the lad even if the date goes nowhere.

 

 

True to his word, Louis pulls up in Niall’s drive promptly an hour after their call.

When he’d sent his address, Louis had texted back for Niall to wear comfy clothes but he’d still wanted to look nice, so he’s wearing a pair of his passable jeans and he’s got a jacket over his t-shirt. He double-checks his pocket for his wallet and keys before he heads out the door.

Louis’ car is worn and abused in a way that reminds Niall of uni; of piling with his mates into the back of someone’s car and searching for the farthest pub they could find, of pseudo road trips on warm summer nights.

It smells a bit like cigarette smoke and also a bit of something more herbal, and Niall grins as he drops into the passenger side, looking over at Louis. He’s pink-cheeked and smiling wide, hair just as soft looking as it had been last night and Niall wants to brush his fringe back but he doesn’t know if they’re there yet.

“Hi,” he says, trying and failing to control his grin.

“I told you to wear comfortable clothes,” Louis says, still smiling.

Niall looks down at his lap. “I am?”

“Jeans are never comfy clothes,” Louis retorts, backing out carefully before heading towards the A3.

“Where we going today, then?” Niall asks instead of continuing the argument, knowing he’ll like too much the way Louis cares so strongly about this. Louis is cute when he’s pouting about denim.

Louis is cute all the time.

“You’ll see,” is all Louis says with a wink, before facing forward and focusing on driving.

“You alright?” Niall asks, noting the tension in Louis’ jaw.

At his question, Louis visibly relaxes. “I’m fine, just hate this car. It likes to test me.”

That’s. Not what he’d expected. “It’s a car,” he says slowly.

“It’s a monster with almost no redeemable value.”

Niall bites his lip on a smile and doesn’t respond, looking out the window as Louis drives. He snorts every time Louis curses under his breath, hands tight on the wheel.

They pull off the motorway at Cobham, Louis navigating the tree-lined backroad until they pull up outside a weathered fence.

“Delta Force?” Niall reads, brows furrowed. He turns to Louis, who looks a bit nervous again. “You brought me paintballing?”

“If you hate it, we can leave,” Louis says quickly. “I just, it’s me mate’s birthday and I figured, the opposite of graveyard is life, right?”

Niall’s face splits into a smile at that, nodding.

“Well,” Louis continues, “We maybe can’t fix that memory but we can replace it with its opposite. So, birthday replaces death and the adrenaline rush reaffirms you’re alive or something.”

He trails off, still visibly nervous like he thinks Niall cares about what they’re doing. Niall wouldn’t have minded if Louis had just driven around aimlessly for hours- though he might be thankful that wasn’t the option chosen.

“That’s brilliant,” Niall says, earnest.

Louis still looks unsure, so he takes it further.

“Honest, mate. I thought you were going to bail when you heard what a shite story the date was. I’m mad impressed.”

Louis flushes and messes with his hair, small hand coming up to brush his fringe over his brow.

“Plus,” Niall continues, unable to resist. “I think you just desperately wanted to introduce me to your friends. Show off the catch you pulled.”

Louis laughs at that, loud and bright, and he opens the car door before slipping outside. “You’ve found me out,” he laughs, going around to the boot.

Niall gets out of the car as well and follows him to the back. It’s packed with gear- masks and vests that read ‘Tommo’s Team’ when he picks one up.

“You lot don’t mess around,” he whistles.

“We do paintball for all of our birthdays and I’m currently on a three game winning streak. You can only wear that vest if you agree to win.”

Feeling giddy and also excited, Niall promises and lets Louis help him into a pair of cover-alls before he fixes the vest over Niall’s shoulders.

“ _Now_ do you understand why I told you to wear comfy clothes?” Louis bitches good-naturedly while he pulls up his own uniform, the material baggy everywhere but his bum.

Niall stares when Louis leans back into the boot, reaching to grab their masks. Louis looks over his shoulder, clearly knowing Niall is looking, and just smiles at him.

“Enjoying yourself back there?” he asks.

“Oh, you know, a little bit,” Niall says, gamely. “It’s quite a nice bum.”

The faux-bravado he’s projecting must be working, because Louis flushes again. The pink high on his tan cheeks is quickly becoming Niall’s favourite thing and he plans on making it appear as often as possible.

 

 

They somehow pull off a win. Niall’s beginning to think Louis’ magical with his ‘I’d like this to happen’ and then it does type of luck. Afterwards, when they’ve caught their breath and are pulling off their jumpsuits, Niall gets distracted mid-laugh as he watches Louis carefully undress, his fringe stuck to his forehead with sweat and his lips the same shade of pink as his flush.

“Dream team!” Louis’ shouting when Niall tunes back in, back to Niall and shouting to his friend across the carpark.

“Dream team,” Niall repeats distractedly when Louis turns back around.

“And my winning streak is alive and well!”

Louis’ bounding over to him before he’s aware, wrapping arms around Niall’s neck and hugging him. Niall’s arms come up to hug him back, low on Louis’ waist and pulling him in even closer.

Louis pulls away before Niall’s really done, enjoying the way Louis feels compact and warm against him, small in his arms though they’re of a height. He keeps his hand on Louis’ waist and enjoys the way Louis smiles at their feet before looking back at him, eyes bright as he looks at him through his eyelashes in a move so obviously practiced Niall would be a bit offended if he wasn’t so into it.

“You’re okay to come with us for drinks, yeah? No other plans tonight,” Louis asks, stepping back completely so Niall’s hand falls to his side.

“Course,” Niall agrees, excited to prolong the date. “Free as a bird.”

“Good,” Louis says, walking around the car and getting in the driver’s seat.

Niall slips in the other side and grins like an idiot when Louis smiles at him.

“Remember,” Louis reminds him, “don’t talk to me while we’re driving.”

The smile slips off his face. Hopefully he won’t die before he gets to kiss Louis goodnight.

 

 

He doesn’t die, but he does tell Louis as they’re pulling into his drive that he’s driving for all future dates.

“So, we’re doing this again?” Louis asks.

Niall shifted in his seat a bit to face Louis, his earlier buzz having completely disappeared. He’s still riding the high of the day’s adrenaline, though, and he uses that buzz to fuel his next words. “Well, you kind of cheated tonight.”

“Excuse me?” Louis asks, affecting an offended tone.

Niall reads him like a book and plays along. “You promised you’d make me forget about my bad date but I’ve still got the memory floating around.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” Niall says, grinning when Louis unbuckles his seatbelt and turns a bit in his seat also.

“Did it fade at all? Not even a little?”

“A bit, it’s a little hazy,” Niall allows.

Louis leans in over the center console, slow like he’s giving Niall a chance to stop him. Like Niall would ever want to stop him. He pushes forward to close the gap between them instead, their lips meeting in a slow, sweet kiss.

His seatbelt is still on and the seats are uncomfortable, the console digging into his hip and it’s still the best first kiss he’s possibly ever had.

“My turn next,” Louis says when they part, voice hardly above a whisper.

“Whassit?” Niall asks, opening his eyes and seeing Louis with his closed for a moment longer.

He blinks them open, expression soft. “We get to redo one of my bad dates next.”

“One of your…” Niall repeats for a second, smacking his lips lightly. “Yeah, sounds fair.”

“I figure I owe you another one after today, too, so we’ll do two each. See if we can’t rid ourselves of these bad memories.”

Two dates each, that makes four. Niall’s pleased with his math skills right now, pleased his brain is working correctly with Louis closing his eyes again and leaning back in.

 

 

The first one Louis wants to erase from his memory is one of his first dates with a lad, where the guy had invited him out and taken him to the gym.

“I hate all forms of exercise,” Louis confides over the phone.

“You _loved_ paintballing,” Niall reminds him.

“Duh, that’s not exercise.”

Instead of arguing, Niall just arranges a game of footie with his friends for a day that’s a week from their last date. Louis and Harry hit it off like mad, but he and Liam aren’t speaking after a ‘too-intense for a friendly game’ argument breaks out over a foul. Liam insists Louis had pushed him and Louis, in turn, insists Liam must be getting confused from the stick up his arse.

Niall knows he should be more concerned, knows Louis probably did pinch a bit because he may have thought Liam would just reciprocate instead of tattling. It’s just, Louis is so _pretty_ when he’s upset and snarky, and he lets Niall pull him away from the others and into a kiss so Niall doesn’t question it besides a quick apology text to Liam after the fact.

Louis declares the date a success, says he can’t even remember the original guy’s name. Niall doesn’t call his bluff, but he’s pretty sure Louis didn’t remember the bloke’s name before today, either.

 

 

Niall’s turn is next and he stalls for a while before coming up with an acceptable bad date. He wants to drag this out, wants to keep Louis around as long as possible. Finally, he calls Louis.

“What’s the verdict?” is what he hears when the phone picks up.

He can immediately tell it’s Zayn and he finds himself grinning. “Is Louis around?”

“Yeah, but he’s not happy with you.”

Just like that, the grin is gone. “How come?”

“You wanna know why he’s mad?” Zayn asks, clearly repeating the question to Louis, who must be around him.

“Is he there?” Niall asks, just as he hears Louis’ voice in the background saying _‘he didn’t call’_.

Niall rolls his eyes, smiling again just like that. “Tell the diva to calm down and talk to me. I was trying to think of the perfect date.”

“You could’ve still called, just to talk,” Louis says, directly into the phone this time.

He doesn’t sound upset but Niall knows he _had_ ignored a couple texts from Louis and he feels bad about that.

“I’m sorry,” he says, sincere. “I get a bit spacey sometimes and don’t check my phone for days.”

“Do better,” Louis sniffs, clearly faked since Niall thinks he can hear him smiling as he speaks.

“I swear,” he says anyway, playing along.

“Alright, then, since you ignored me I get to pick what we do next.”

He can hear Zayn laughing in the background, the two of them probably smoking up together if the slow roll of their voices is any indication. Niall wants to see Louis right now, sure his cheeks have that familiar circle of pink they get when he’s happy and his eyes are probably crinkled and his fringe is probably in his eyes, so his tiny fingers are sweeping it aside and yeah. Niall wants to see Louis.

He almost forgets what they’d been talking about. “Yeah,” he says, belated. “You can pick next.”

“I’ll call you back,” Louis says, then hangs up without waiting for an answer.

Niall frowns at his phone, confused. A moment later, as he’s standing to slip his mobile into his pocket, he receives a text.

_a girl once made me go to the grocery store with her. on our first date_

_Did you guys cook dinner after or something?_ he texts back, biting the tip of his tongue as he taps out the words.

He heads into the kitchen and sets about making something for lunch, suddenly famished at the mention of food.

Louis responds just as he’s about to bite into his sandwich.

_nope_

And just like that, Niall knows what he’s going to do.

 

 

Shopping with Louis is probably the most fun he’s ever had. They go to the Tesco Extra in Weybridge because Niall needs to do a big shop anyway and also wants to spend as much time with Louis as possible.

They wander the aisles, Louis constantly throwing random items like biscuits and bottles of cordial into the trolley, and Niall just laughs and leaves them because he wants to surprise Louis with a dinner cooked with whatever they end up with like on the American cooking shows Louis is always watching and live-texting.

“I don’t know, this is just bringing back all of the awful memories,” Louis comments as they load their bags into the boot of Niall’s truck. “Not sure you successfully ‘fixed’ this, mate.”

Niall lets his gaze drag from the tips of Louis’ toes in his beat up Converse, past his ankles where his jeans are rolled up, along the thick stretch of denim over his thighs. He lingers for a second on Louis’ stomach, soft under the thin fabric of his t-shirt, before licking his lips as his eyes graze the dip of Louis’ clavicle where his collar’s loose.

When he finally gets to Louis’ eyes, it feels like he’s been tracing him for hours though it’s hardly even been seconds, and Louis’ expression is as affected as Niall feels. His lips are parted and his pupils are wide and he rushes into Niall’s chest when Niall holds out his hand.

Their kiss is wet and open right away, Niall’s hand going to Louis’ bum and slipping into his pocket to squeeze gently.

“Not that kind of lad,” Louis mumbles into the kiss but he doesn’t pull away.

Knowing he’s joking but enjoying their back-and-forth, Niall pulls his hand away and slips it up Louis’ back over his t-shirt until the tips of his fingers are on the underside of Louis’ left shoulder blade and they’re pulling apart just enough to breathe.

“Let’s go make dinner,” Niall says with a grin, stepping back and taking his hand from Louis’s back.

“My place has a Zayn; does your place have anyone?”

Niall shakes his head quickly, latching the gate on his truck and walking around to slip into the cab. He watches Louis climb up awkwardly, enjoying the view as he’s still learning the best way to navigate the height. Niall’s almost the exact same height as Louis but he’s used to the hop up. Louis looks like a kitten trying to get onto a king seized bed: jumping as high as he can and digging his hands into to seat to finish the hike.

They drive mostly in silence, but halfway back to Niall’s flat, Louis reaches a hand over for his and they stay linked for the rest of the drive. Niall’s completely in too deep, too fast.

 

 

Niall somehow manages to make an easy chicken dish for their dinner, though he has to admit defeat when he can’t think of a way to use the cordial. Louis’ delegated to veg and they work efficiently around each other, adding to the pan on the stovetop until their chicken is seared and then Niall puts the entire cast iron skillet into the oven to let it finish cooking in the peppers and garlic Louis had painstakingly chopped.

They make out for an hour after they’ve shared dessert, Louis’ tongue sweet and cold against Niall’s until he’s licked off every trace of the ice cream and Louis only tastes like him.

It’s painful letting Louis walk out of his flat but Niall knows he wants to do this right, letting his resolve crumble just enough to pull Louis into another kiss before letting him leave.

 

 

With three successful dates behind them, Niall is nervous for the fourth. He’s the grand finale, the end of their arrangement. Niall doesn’t know what’s going to happen after the four dates are met, if they’ll go their separate ways of if they’ll still date a bit on the side.

He’s decided against his previous choice, wanting to make the last one the very best it can be. During one of their long-winded texting conversations, he gets a strike of inspiration.

_i think i picked one_

_oh yeah? what is it? Better be good_

_the pressure is on. i once had a dte who kept flirting with our waiter. im pretty sure she went home with him after, too_

There’s no response for almost an hour and Niall starts second-guessing his choice. He thought it’d be cute, maybe they could just eat in again so they only talk to each other or maybe they go to one of those restaurants where the wait staff is mean to you on purpose. He doesn’t know, he’d heard about one like that in America and he bets he could find one in England, too. Or maybe even ‘Dans le Noir’ like in _About Time_ that he and Louis would have an amazing time at, eating in the dark and getting tactile under the table.

Finally, when he’s sixty seconds away from sending another text calling the whole thing off, a notification from Louis pops up.

_let me know when you’re free._

Relief washes over him lightning fast, and Niall laughs out loud at how dramatic he’d been. He’s _always_ calm when it comes to dating, doesn’t let things bother him. But Louis’ under his skin in a way that makes Niall wonderfully unbalanced and he can’t wait to let him burrow in a bit further.

 

 

The restaurant Louis picks is completely run of the mill. It’s not one where the wait staff is in skimpy uniforms or trained to be rude. It isn’t themed like Hard Rock Cafe or Dans le Noir. It’s a completely normal restaurant for a date, and Niall’s eagerness rises just a bit, anticipating how Louis is going to turn the evening.

Nothing happens though.

Well, not _nothing_. Louis’s a couple minutes late but his hair looks so soft and his eyes are so bright and happy that Niall doesn’t mind- wouldn’t mind anyway because Louis is definitely the type to be late. Niall’s surprised he’s been on time for all of their outings so far.

They share a starter and Louis manages to sneak a bite of Niall’s pasta so he retaliates and spears a chunk of Louis’ steak and they laugh as they talk about their days and Louis’ most recent concerns about his job and Niall admits he’s terrified he’s going nowhere in his career and it’s all perfectly lovely and fun.

But Niall’s still waiting for the other shoe to drop until he realizes it isn’t going to, and he feels like he’s somehow responsible for ruining their gag, so he declines dessert and fights Louis for the bill.

“Niall, come on, my treat,” Louis argues, his wallet already in his hands.

“No, this is all wrong, it’s got to be on me,” Niall says, fishing some notes from his pocket and tossing them on the table.

“What?” Louis asks, bewilderment clear on his face.

“I messed up but I don’t know how, 'cause you normally take the lead on these dates, even when I’m supposed to be the one fixing yours, but I must have missed my chance to, I don’t know, what was the plan? Maybe I was supposed to flirt with the waiter.” Niall laughs but it doesn’t sound the same and fuck this whole thing if a pretty boy is all it took to shake the confidence he’s had for twenty-some years.

Niall, the lad who pulled all the time at uni but never dated more than a few weeks because it was tiresome, has let this compact, snarky little _thing_ bury himself in his mind and he’s just over the whole “feelings” concept.

“Niall,” Louis says, voice near a whisper.

“No, s’alright. I’m always the one pulling the plug, it’s only right I get it pulled on me, too.”

“But, Niall-”

“It’s _okay_ ,” he says, gritting his teeth. He forces himself to look up at Louis and feels himself relax when he sees his smile, even though he still hates everything.

“You’re an idiot,” Louis says, but it sounds kind. “I was trying to erase that bad date by making you think of this one. I wanted to, I don’t know, take you out like you deserved. Wine and dine you and _not_ flirt with the waiter because that’s rude but also because you’re so bloody fit and funny and you’re _great_ , I don’t know how so many people were shit to you because you fucking epitomize _sunshine_ or something else equally cheesy that Zayn would write down in one of his Moleskins.”

Niall laughs, shocked at the wave of words and feeling a bit silly that he’d let his own stress get to him. “You took me on a real date but let me think it was a fake one this whole time?”

“None of them were fake to me,” Louis says, tone matter-of-fact. He isn’t being rude or shy or anything one might expect, just meeting Niall’s gaze evenly with his chin up and eyes sparkling.

Niall takes a breath. “I didn’t want any of them to be fake. Even that first night, I wanted to pull you away from that tool so bad.”

“I know, I felt you staring the entire time.”

Niall laughs again, all of his prior anxiety gone. “God, Lou, date me for real. Be my, I don’t know, be my boyfriend.”

Louis grins and hides his mouth behind his little hand and Niall doesn’t even _think_ before he stands and reaches across the table to grab that hand and use it to pull Louis into a kiss.

Louis gasps against his mouth- probably in surprise but he also likes to think of it in other contexts- and Niall somehow resists the urge to make the kiss deeper and wetter since they’re in a nice restaurant and he might want to bring Louis back here one day. Every day. As many as it takes to forget his doubt and scrub that embarrassment from this place’s aura or whatever Harry would call it.

“Come home with me,” he says, pulling back and brushing Louis’ fringe from his face so he can look at him better.

“I don’t put out on the first date, I’m not-”

“That kind of lad, yeah I’ve heard. Come home with me.”

Louis pulls back completely, sitting back in his chair scooping up Niall’s money and placing his card down instead. He folds the notes and slips them into Niall’s front pocket before pushing him to sit as well. “I don’t put out on the first date,” he teases.

“It’s the fourth, come _home_ with _me_ ,” Niall teases right back, his hand coming out quick as anything to pinch Louis’ fingers where they’re drumming against the table..

“Nope,” Louis says, popping the ‘p’ and wriggling away.

Their waiter comes back to the table, smiling at them as she picks up the card and takes it to ring up.

They don’t talk, just look at each other and pull funny faces until Louis’ bright red and Niall’s laughing so hard he thinks his gut is going to burst.

They walk out together after Louis gets his card back, slipping it into his wallet and grabbing for Niall’s hand as they leave. He lets Niall walk him to his car and press him against the side, snogging him slick and messy. Niall finally pulls back- to gasp for a breath or look at Louis’ kiss-swollen mouth or, fuck, he doesn’t know why he’d ever pull back- but then Louis is laughing, breathless and just as into it as Niall is.

“Good night,” Louis says, voice steady before he lets out another laughs and pushes off the car to kiss Niall again.

They pull back for real, taking deep breaths and nuzzling each other softly, noses pressed to cheeks. Niall’s eyes are closed but he can smell Louis’ clean scent as he breathes against Louis’ soft skin.

“Good night,” Niall says as he steps away, not trusting himself to press another single kiss to Louis’ perfect budded mouth.

He gets almost all the way to his car before Louis’ voice makes him turn around.

“How did this date do?”

Confused, Niall stops shuffling backwards. “What?”

“To erase the last one. How did this one do?”

“Oh, Louis,” Niall laughs, loud across the lot. “I don’t remember anyone but you.”

“You’re a charmer and a liar, Niall Horan,” Louis accuses.

“Yet you just agreed to be my boyfriend not fifteen minutes ago,” he points out.

“I’m reconsidering.”

“You’re not,” Niall responds, confident.

He turns back around and gets to his truck, opening the door and hopping in. He looks back over his shoulder at Louis, who’s done the same in his car and has the window rolled down.

“How long are you going to wait to call me?” Louis asks, practically shouting now.

“Probably about a half hour.”

Louis smiles, bright even across the carpark, and nods before cranking his window up.

Niall shuts his door and watches Louis drive off, hands tense on the wheel like always.

 

 

When he calls forty-two minutes later, Zayn answers and informs him Louis is horribly offended by his being twelve minutes late. Niall laughs into the phone and hears Louis laughing as well in the background.

“Tell my boyfriend to start answering his own calls, lazy sod.”

Zayn laughs too, and Louis takes the phone, a slight yelp that sounds too low to be Louis and Niall pictures him stepping on Zayn or pinching him to get his mobile.

“Hi,” Louis finally says, breathless.

“Hi,” Niall responds, completely obsessed.

“Ignore Zayn, paint fumes, you know?”

“So I’ve heard. What are you wearing?”

“Pervy old man,” Louis laughs, though it’s deeper and Niall thinks he hears him making his way into his room.

“Younger than you.”

“Oi, no phone sex is going to happen if you insult me, love.”

_“Phone sex better not happen at all_ ,” Zayn calls out and Niall realizes Louis must not have made it very far.

“When do I get to meet Zayn, anyway?”

“Never, he’s too pretty. You’ll leave me for him in a second.”

“Thought he had a fiancée?” Niall questions, pretty sure he remembers something of that sort.

“You still might like him better.”

“I told you, Lou. You’re all I know, now. You’ve ruined me completely.”

“Ace,” Louis breathes out, smile evident in his voice.

“So, are we gonna have phone sex or…” Niall trails off, hoping the suggestive eyebrow waggle he does is somehow conveyed over the phone.

“Oi, ruining the moment,” Louis says, pouting by the sound of his voice. “Call you tomorrow!” he says before hanging up, catching Niall off-guard again.

He laughs, can’t help but always, always laugh, and sets an alarm for a truly unnaturally early hour. He’s going to surprise Louis with breakfast tomorrow and get a glimpse of Zayn.

He can’t possibly be that pretty.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


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